Agribusiness co-op donates nearly $8,000 to food bank

Friday

A farmer-owned cooperative in Shipman has donated $7,967 to the CENTRAL ILLINOIS FOODBANK thanks to an anti- hunger campaign it participated in during March.

CHS SHIPMAN CO-OP, a part of CHS INC., (a global agribusiness owned by farmers, ranchers and cooperatives across the United States) donated the funds Friday to the food bank, 1937 E. Cook St.

ERIN WILLIAMS, marketing and communication specialist for CHS Shipman, who made the presentation, said the donated funds were a result of the Harvest for Hunger Campaign.

“It’s an annual campaign that CHS hosts all throughout the month of March. We raise food and funds for local food pantries,” Williams said.

“We are a co-op owned by farmers and ranchers, and so feeding the world is what we do, and so that’s the heartbeat of who we are. CHS does this campaign Harvest for Hunger nationally. … We just participate. This is our local part of giving.”

The Shipman business unit of CHS covers from the Waverly/Lowder area to the southern end of Pocahontas/Greenville.

Williams noted that food pantries in Virden, Litchfield, Highland, Bond County Senior Center in Greenville and Martha’s Food Pantry in Shipman also each benefited from money raised through the hunger campaign.

“We raised about $10,000 total this year during our campaign (having an initial goal of $8,000), and so our corporate office, CHS Inc., their offer to all participating co-ops is that … ‘If you meet or exceed (your) goal, then we will match your funds $100 per full-time employee.’ That’s where this big check (for the Central Illinois Foodbank) comes from.”

KRISTA LISSER, public relations manager for the food bank, said the donated funds probably will be used for food purchases. CHS Shipman Co-op has raised for the food bank more than $48,000 in five years of participating in Harvest for Hunger.

“These donations help us get those foods that we really want to provide the people, which are healthy foods. Those are the hardest to get because they’re so costly -- fresh fruits and vegetables,” Lisser said. “With winter approaching now, we’re not going to be getting those from our local farmers. They’ll have to be brought in from elsewhere.”

Among major donors of produce to the Central Illinois Foodbank this summer are DICKEY-john in Auburn, which has donated 2,500 pounds of produce to date; master gardeners through the University of Illinois Extension; and Jim Orr of the Berry Patch.

Established in 1982, Central Illinois Foodbank distributes over 9.4 million pounds of food annually to some 150 food pantries, soup kitchens, residential programs and after-school programs in a 21-county region.

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